CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is related to U.S. application Ser. No. 07/365,327, filed on even date herewith in the names of James D. Allen et al and entitled "Secure Copier and Method of Reproduction."
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to reproduction apparatus and methods for making reproductions of secure documents such as confidential documents and checks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art, financial statements such as from insurance companies, are provided with a check forming a part thereof. As the bank clearing data portion of the check is required to be in a magnetic ink, it is known to reproduce the whole statement in the magnetic inks or such as by use of an electrostatographic reproduction process employing magnetic toners known as MICR toners. These toners referred to herein as magnetic or as a metal have a permeability to magnetic fields enabling them to be detected by known magnetic readers or sensors which are capable of detecting permeability, remanent magnetization, or magnetic fields such as produced by eddy currents. As magnetic toners are more expensive than nonmagnetic toners, it would be desirable to minimize the use of these toners to only where they are required. It is also known in the prior art to provide a form upon which a financial statement will be prepared. In the production of the form, a magnetic ink is added in a separate step to provide the bank clearing data. The modified form is then fed to a printer to print the amount and name of the individual. While this method reduces the use of magnetic ink to the required information needed to be printed with same, it is cumbersome since it requires that forms be previously prepared and placed correctly in the printer.
It is further known in the prior art (see commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,377) to provide for the secure reproduction of confidential documents by placing, say, an invisible toner on the document as a bar code to determine the level of security clearance required to copy the document. However, this can be defeated by the use of appropriate optical filters.
It is an object, therefore, to provide an improved method and apparatus for reproduction that provides for the secure production of confidential documents and which reduces the use of expensive toners.